Tributes | Jampot

JAMPOT TRIBUTES FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS

Updated: 3/26/26

BILL MAURO

Congratulations on a long and successful Kahunahood . Your efforts have kept a community going through some strange times. When Perry Gerhart first launched the Jampot his goal was a modest gathering of the few riders he thought might respond.
He would be amazed and proud that the Jampot has lasted this long and generated so many fond memories. Aging may be slowing us down a bit, but we can still stay calm and ride on !

Bill Mauro Kahuna #2

DEB & KEVIN HUNT

Thank you John and all the others who contributed in making it an event we looked forward to for many years. I know firsthand from the 2 years Kevin was Kahuna, it took a lot of work and help from others to put it all together. We started going to Jampot before we were married in 1983 and missed very few along the way. We were able to share the event with our boys and,we all have our special memories. We made many friends over the years. JAMPOT may be ending, but will not be forgotten !!!

PS: DOREEN ! ( you will know if you know)

DAVID TATLOCK

Yes, indeed, I was there at Matchless Rally Num. Uno. at Perry Gerhart's, and I have my letter from the year before, writ. by Bill Mauro and mailed out, that we should
respond, else Velocette clubbers poke us with a stick to see if we were alive. A ride for shoo fly pie breakfast in the midst of a long line of Single cylindered Matchless was a thrill beyond description, wake up Sat. morning to John Scop firing up his G80CS at dawn. Rocke was there, too.

2nd year, the rallye almost died, held for a very few in some little KOA campground. Only 3rd yr did it come to Bucksteep. Jim Asmussen from the German-sounding town across the NY border plus his pretty wife, lots had a 2-year go at it, and Greg Sudak came up with the parts gifts on the Bucksteep porch.

Big high point, best 2 hours of anything that happened in a year, bike-oriented or not, was the Saturday afternoon milling around, drinks in hand, meeting and greeting,
great motorcycles parked hither and yon. Mauro's Matchless Trials bike, Peter Rocke's backfiring Matchless 600 Typhoon, even Brian Sweeney and his G9 and his cackling horde from New Jersey, showing up in a school bus dressed as a Beatle, and one of his kin drunk as a skunk screaming for his wife at midnight:

"DOREEN!"

The meals at Bucksteep were great. Twas sad when Sunday morning you regretfully faced the fact that the Jampot Rally didn't happen every day of the year. My '66 G80 here I send out to all in a picture, went to reassy with new pipe and new muffler and many new WW nuts and bolts, transfers, repaint by Roger Pagery, put back together by Andy Townsend, no relation to Peter of the Who, at Mohawk Garage around 3 yrs. ago - gave the G80 to him. He tells me he commutes to Becket from Southampton on it. Always liked the exhaust note. And much more, DT Mohawk Garage, btw, 413-623-6022.

One final note. Let's turn this country from a spread of penal colonies and sending political opponents to gulags in El Salvador and not make enemies of our best friends, the Canadians. DT

BEN ENGLISH

Huge thanks are due to John for keeping the Jampot going in the face of many difficulties.

The Jampot was the highpoint of my year at least so far as motorcycling went. Life will be empty and boring without it... the get-togethers in Ashfield, Hinsdale, and Reillyville ameliorate the loss. Let's do them often.

I will maintain membership in the Velo club and also the AJS-Matchless club which I joined a few years ago. Maybe a new opportunity will come up to get something going in upstate NY or western Mass under their auspices.

Ben English * Albany * New York * USA

JOHN LES

IT WAS A GREAT RIDE !

That is the comment I heard from many JAMPOT participants returning from the Saturday rides over the years. I have to agree. The rides in the Berkshires were awesome and had some great destinations like Jim Hoellerich’s motorcycle museum, the tour of Bear Swamp, the charcoal kilns, waterfall parks and all the great restaurants like Ashfield Lake House. Returning to Bucksteep usually required “taking an afternoon shower”. In New York we rode to private motorcycle collections and Gas-Up engine festivals.

For me, the single most enjoyable feature about JAMPOT was hearing the British bikes in front of me on the Saturday rides. I really enjoyed the unique sound of those engines accelerating and climbing hills. I would get behind a different bike at every leg of a ride. I loved the sound of Ben English’s Norton (and all Nortons), John Rancitelli’s Triumphs, Bill Cawley’s Matchless, Doug Cropper’s BSA, Greg Sudak’s Yamaha one-lunger and all the other bikes that rode on Saturdays. Music to my ears!

I was introduced to JAMPOT through Bill & Jean Cawley. They told me about an annual British bike rally at Bucksteep Manor which was only a mile from my home. My first one was 1993 when Peter Gay was Kahuna. At JAMPOT I met John Rancitelli, an incredible, detail obsessive mechanic who had a side business restoring Triumphs. John rebuilt my 79 Bonny engine when it was 25 years old.

I was elected Kahuna for the first time in 2006. By then I saw how the event ran and what a Kahuna had to do. I was a project manager many times in my professional career so running a JAMPOT was easy for me. One of my favorite duties was checking people in on Fridays and listening to their stories of the ride that day. There was one person who had a crash or breakdown every year on the way to JAMPOT (not naming names). At the end of my term, we elected Frank Palmeri to be the next Kahuna. A group of us carried the torch to his trailer where he was passed out. His wife saw the “lynch mob” coming and stood in our way to protect her man. Superior woman!

We had to move the event when Bucksteep was sold to a con-man who wanted us to pay big $. Words cannot describe the sadness felt by everyone in losing the venue we all enjoyed so much. Bucksteep has since gone into great disrepair, all buildings are condemned and the property will be sold for back taxes. Jampot was moved in 2015 to an area in New York that has great riding roads and destinations, but does not compare to the allure of the Berkshires.

JAMPOT fizzled during covid. Only 4 people showed up in 2020. Myself, Ben English, Doug Cropper and Julie Veronezi to maintain the continuity of the event.

Over the years I was constantly impressed with the people I met at JAMPOT. There were people who were walking encyclopedias of knowledge on all bikes British, impressive mechanics who fixed broken bikes at the event so that their owners can ride on Saturdays, accomplished machinists, highly skilled construction workers, a high-end automotive maintenance manager, a Kiwi from New Zealand, engineers, IT gurus, a corporate lawyer, a psychiatrist (who probably had a good laugh at all of us), etc. I will cherish all the conversations we had, especially the “porch racing”! We all shared the same love for 2 British wheels and the event that celebrated it. Good times.

I plan to organize a JAMPOT Memorial Ride on the first Saturday of June every year (weather permitting). We can meet outside of Bucksteep and ride the Berkshire backroads to Ashfield Lake House for lunch.

Ride safe,

Retired Kahuna, John Les

DANIEL ANDREWS

I'm so sorry to hear the Jampot is no more but I will always cherish the event as one of the fondest memories of my childhood. That's where I learned to ride when I was around 7 years old or so.

I remember my first time riding the little 50cc pit bike at Peter Rocke's field with Vincent and Keith. The little Honda that we dubbed "Bubbles" because of the rusted out exhaust pipe that sounded so silly. It was still able to move Peter's big old body around though! I remember Keith playing his acoustic guitar around the campfires where he would freestyle comedy lyrics while the rest of us laughed until our sides hurt. Back at Bucksteep Manor when all us kids were old enough to have our own small off-road bikes and made ruts in the grass and all over the place from riding sunrise to sunset around the campground, Chapel Trail and the cross-country trails in the surrounding woods. We really pissed off the owners that year! When I had my 1974 Honda CL125 I never thought that old beater would do so well, but I was leading the group through the woods when I found a pair of motocross goggles hanging from a tree. I didn't have a pair so it was a pleasant surprise to find them. So many great, great memories that highlighted my childhood happened at Jampot.

I really do owe a lot to the Jampot for who I am today, that cannot be understated. I got a street legal motorcycle before I had a car on the road. I've owned several antique Hondas and now I have a real bike, being my 2019 Indian Scout. Unfortunately I was unable to ride it out to NY to show it off to you all despite trying for 3 years in a row. I was so upset that I was rained out 3 times!

I do miss all of you and would love to ride out if anyone decides to have a get together and has me in mind. I've been dying for an interstate motorcycle trip so distance is not really an issue. Until then I suppose this is farewell... Me and my dad wish you all the best in life, love and health. Anyone can feel free to contact me if you wish and I can pass any well wishes to my dad, John Andrews. He's had a really rough couple of years, but he is doing well now with his wife and I taking care of him. That's all for now, much thanks to all the Kahunas, Jampot members, and everyone else that made this event so special to all of us.

-Daniel Andrews

TIM POWERS

I arrived at my first Jampot sometime in the early 2000's on my little Mototrans 350. Over the years, I introduced my son Mark to it in which it sealed his love for antique British rides. I can remember having help changing the fork seals on my Norton under a pine tree at Bucksteep, riding my 71 BSA Bitsa in for the first time ( Thanks to John Rancitelli for the help with the build) and in the past few years, helping Kahuna John Les with set up and tear down as well as offering shop services and chase trailers. I have met so many wonderful people over the years and some have become great long lasting friends to this day. I guess every road must come to an end as Jampot has, but I will always cherish the memories, the rides, and the GREAT folks that have made Jampot possible for so many years. It is my sincere hope that we can all stay in touch and maybe some day meet up again. Until then, keep the shiny side up and between the lines and out of the pines. You will all be sorely missed!

Tim Powers

BILL CAWLEY

An expected but sad announcement John, I will miss seeing my many Jampot friends, but as has been expressed, my memories will never fade. An early Jampot era that I will always hold dear is when the CT Thunder Lizards participated because so many bikes showed up at the same time. But singling out any group, state, person is futile, every
bike and owner are unforgettable.

Now to break the news to my G80CS, a sad conversation because our Jampot Rallye was the only gathering that offered riding with other Brit bikes to me each year. I look forward to seeing my Jampot friends at the CT BIA where we look at British bikes, not ride them.

RON DAWSON

This is indeed very sad news but was certainly expected, given the situation. I was only a hit and miss participant over the years, tagging along with fellow “Canukians” John Gurr, Eric Pritchard, Chris Stewart, Stan Johnson…. for several nice rides from Montreal crossing our common border to sample your group’s warm hospitality. These trips were certainly a great weekend adventure for me that I’ll always remember. I thank you and all those involved for the great effort put into staging this event over the years. No small task, to be sure!

Maybe some of you would like to make a visit north to visit our annual CVMG Rally at Eric Pritchard’s farm in Ormstown, Quebec August 1st 2026! We’re not that far away. Lots of vintage motorcycles and a guaranteed good time so c’mon up!

Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group

Cheers,

Ron Dawson

BILL MORRISON

I am truly sorry that it has come to this. But, as I was one of the 10 or so attendees last year, I understand. Understanding does not come with enjoying however. I was never a regular attendee, but every time I did attend, I was made to feel welcome and I enjoyed my experience. Especially the trips to get there.

The first year my wife and I attended at Bucksteep on our Hondas snd near froze in the tent. The second year we stayed in the inn because of my wife’s back. Then there was the trip with some TSNR compadres. Thought we could go west before going north. And we could. Just not where we thought we were. Good thing gas stations in Rosco, NY still sold paper maps then. Another year I drove up with Marty (of BSA fame). Last year it was the car again because we brought our dog. She wouldn’t have been back this year regardless. But she did enjoy her first Jampot.

Well done John! Thank you for the years and the memories.

Bill Morrison

(Unrepentant Triumph rider)

BRENDAN O'NEIL

Everyone will be missed. Many spectacular core memories and high level life experiences were had via this event. Not without the innumerable group of unique attendees of course. Cheers 🍻

See you out on the backroads

BRAD & TIM BABCOCK

Truly sad news, John. We'll miss the rally and all of you.

SCOTT BURGHART

Thanks John, the events that I attended were fun. But I guess all things must pass. Best to everyone. In case any one cares, I was the guy that would show up on a Royal Enfield 500 in chrome, or v anew Moto Guzzi V7.

Regards,
Scott